COMMENT | The defining feature of 21st-century geopolitics is not simply the return of great-power rivalry, but the profound transformation of how power itself is exercised.

Competition today no longer relies primarily on military confrontation or overt diplomatic pressure. Instead, it unfolds quietly through data, technology, and legal authority.

Espionage, once episodic, covert, and human-centric, has evolved into something far more pervasive: systemic, continuous, and embedded within the digital infrastructure of everyday life.

Power now resides not only in armies and alliances, but in servers, algorithms, software updates, and statutes.

Modern espionage is no longer primarily about stealing classified documents or recruiting human agents. It is about...